Roosting in the laying boxes

[cfessler]

First off, I am new at this (posting to a forum and raising chickens) I just built the laying boxes for our new flock of 12 chickens. Well, since the boxes have been built, most of the hens have abandoned their roosts and started roosting in the laying boxes. In fact they cram themselves in 4 or 5 to a box. The chickens are about 3 months old. How do I explain to them that the laying boxes are for laying, not sleepovers?

 

[Mahonri]

I had to block off all of my nesting boxes until they were 18 weeks old. Now they just use their roosts but now that they are 20 weeks they are sitting in them during the day from time to time.

but no eggs yet.

Just put boards or something in front of the boxes to block access until you can see that they are almost ready to lay.

 

[LoveMyPeeps]

Will the chickens not lay in their nesting boxes if they hang out in them otherwise?

 

[cfessler]

Thanks for the tip. I'll board them up for awhile. As for whether or not they'll lay in there after they've roosted there, I don't know. In my case, they're making quite a mess of them and I know they won't be laying for a number of weeks and I don't want to keep cleaning them out in the meantime.